IV. NOTES ON FISHES IN THE INDIAN 



MUSEUM. 



II. On a new species of N emach/lcs 'Prou thts 

 NiLGiRi Hills. 



By Sunder Lal Hora, M.Sc, Research Assistant, 

 Zoological Survey of India. 



In this paper I give a description of a small loach, obtained by 

 Dr. N. Annandale from the Bhavani River in the Nilgiri Hills. The 

 species is easily distinguished from all previously known by the 

 peculiar moniliform band of black pigment on either side. 



Nemachilus monilis, sp. uov. 



D. 3l7- P- 10. V. 8. A. 2/5. C. 19. 



In this little loach the head and body are slightly de- 

 pressed and are almost flat on the under surface ; the dorsal 

 nrofile rises from the tip of the snout to the base of the dorsal fin 

 beyond which it is almost straight ; the ventral is straight 

 and horizontal throughout. The head is sharp and bluntly pointed ; 

 its length is contained four times in the length of the body 

 without the caudal. The height of the head near the occiput 

 is less than its greatest width and is half the length of the 

 head. The length of the caudal fin is equal to the length of 

 the head and the depth of the bod}^ near the origin of the dorsal fin 

 equals its width. The eye is large and its diameter is contained 

 almost four times in the length of the head ; it is dorso-lateral 

 in position and is invisible from below. The length of the snout is 

 greater than the post-orbital length of the head and is almost 

 twice the diameter of the eye. The interorbital width is i"3 times 

 the diameter of the eye. The nostrils are situated consider- 

 ably nearer to the eye than to the tip of the snout. Close to the 

 antero-inferior border of the orbit there is a short pad-like process 

 covering a pit ; it is probably a secondary sexual character of the 

 male. There are three pairs of long, thread-like barbels ; 

 the longest is twice the diameter of the eye. The mouth is an 

 inferior, crescentic opening bordered bj* well-developed promi- 

 nent lijjs. The upper lip is raised into a short proboscis in 

 the middle and the lower lip is interrupted in the same region. 

 The origin of the dorsal fin is nearer to the base of the caudal than 

 to the tip of the snout; it is higher than the depth of the 

 body below it. The ventral commences almost below the dorsal 



